Is Overclocking Dying?

The Inquirer has detailed description an article on the cost of a complete budget Morgan DDR system for less than $600.

What’s scary is that the price of a 1.4Ghz TBird system might not even be $50 more than that.

Leaving aside some of the other budget components, you can buy the core components (CPU, mobo, 256Mb of DDR) of arguably the hottest nonoverclocked system available today for less than $250, with shipping.

Is there even any point to “economic” (as opposed to “hobbyist”) overclocking anymore?

The SiS735 mobos really bring this “problem” into focus. The ECS mobo out there doesn’t have overclocking options, but it costs $50 less than its competition.

Buying one of these and a 1.4Ghz TBird will cost the same or less than buying another type DDR mobo and a 1Ghz TBird, with none of the overclockming hassles.

I have to be honest, if I had to build a system for an average person right now, I’d be hardpressed to choose the latter.

Intel: Upholder of Traditional Values

The people in Santa Clara don’t like this idea at all.

Even with their upcoming price slashing, there will still be a big price gap between the high-end and low-end, so “economic” overclocking is safe for a while there.

However, despite the name of this website, I hardly find that “better” than the AMD situation.

What Is The Core Purpose of Overclocking?

Whether you’re a hobbyist or just looking for a better deal, I think both groups share the desire for a high-performing computer.

I think we need to emphasize that rather than making particular rituals to get there a litmus test.

As I’ve said before, if AMD “defeats” overclocking by making high-end non-overclocking dirt cheap, I’ll take “defeats” like that any day.

The hobbyists will always be around doing their thing, maybe relatively fewer than a few years ago, but they’ll be there.

In its place will be even a greater number of people who make not overclock, but are interested in everything else overclockers do.

It’s important to realize that nonoverclockers help overclockers out, too. The more demand there is for high performance equipment, the more there will be, and the cheaper it will be.

On top of that, if there is a population of people who have already gone as far as building their own machines with high performance components, why, they’re already 90% on the way to overclocking. You’ve got a pool of potential converts right in your hands.

But not if they get scorned and mocked for not taking the final step. You never improve yourself by putting someone else down.

No Exclusive Club Here

I’ve seen a number of computing subgroups that often think themselves better or superior than the masses, and shun outsiders.

Two that come to mind are Mac users and OS/2 users. They may be legends in their own minds, but their claims are rather silly looking from the outside, don’t they? They’re exclusive clubs alright, exclusive like Death Row.

That’s not what I want to see happening with overclockers. It’s self-defeating to circle the wagons to keep out people who agree with you 80-90%. It’s much better for both them and you to let them in, let everyone do their own thing, and work together on those majority of areas where you share a common interest and cause.